


Violet Haze

by BraveStep



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Depression, Emotional Baggage, Gen, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:40:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24875536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BraveStep/pseuds/BraveStep
Summary: The younger Yoshizawa sister has never been separated for Kasumi before, but with a criminal record to her name, she is the only student to transfer to Shujin Academy. The changes to her life are staggering, and in the midst of it all, Sumire Yoshizawa is forced to confront who she really is.
Kudos: 9





	Violet Haze

**Author's Note:**

> To quickly summarise the changes in this AU:   
> -Kasumi is alive and attends Kosei, not Shujin.  
> -Joker is chilling back in his home town.  
> -Sumire takes his place as the main character and delinquent transfer student (but doesn't move to Leblanc). She has also never met Maruki.
> 
> My plan for this story is to explore Sumire as a character, as well as her relationships with others that weren't fleshed out too heavily ingame (such as: most of the Phantom Thieves). Hope you all enjoy!

**4/9**

Entering high school sparked an opportunity for change in a young student's life. It was a new place, with new club activities to join and opportunities to make new friends. Really, the possibilities were endless.

One possibility that Sumire Yoshizawa had not foreseen, however, was the one where she was expelled from Kosei High School before even her first day as a student. Another unexpected twist was that for the first time in her life, she had bailed on her gymnastics training. High school life really was filled with surprises.

As a result of said surprises, Sumire was alone in her room, laid on her bed with eyes fixed on the ceiling. It wasn't exactly the stunning high school debut she had hoped for.

Her phone was within arm's reach, but Sumire hadn't dared touch it for hours. Every so often, she had watched it vibrate softly atop her bed sheets, but she never picked it up. After the first two messages from her sister had come through, she had flipped the device face-down, unable to stomach the messages.

She was only delaying the inevitable of course - Sumire knew this. Sooner or later, she would have to face the consequences. She would have to face her sister.

_How am I going to explain to her…?_

Well, Kasumi wasn’t blind. The twins had both seen the way that their peers' behaviour had changed since Sumire had acquired their record. While Kasumi was always bold and at the centre of attention, Sumire was more of a wallflower - quiet, meek and inoffensive. She had never excelled, but her performances had rarely been poor enough to stand out. 

Now, she seemed to be the topic of many a hushed conversation in their group practice sessions. The peers that she had previously regarded with quiet respect snatched any spare moment they could to speculate on whether she had acquired her record for assault, drugs or selling her body. They never bothered to wait for her to leave earshot to start gossiping.

Kasumi still believed in her, of course. The reliable older sister always had been willing to stick her neck out for Sumire and was never afraid to speak her mind. Since then, the wild gossip had evolved again, this time with Kasumi in the mix. Naturally, the whole family must be rotten.

That was when things became genuinely unbearable for Sumire. She knew that her sibling was made of tough stuff, but seeing Kasumi subjected to the same mistreatment Sumire herself had been enduring was the tipping point. Kasumi didn't deserve this. None of it was her fault, why should she have to put up with this? Still, the redhead knew that Kasumi would never stop. She was stubborn to a fault.

That, Sumire told herself, was why she had to take matters into her own hands.

For all her resolve, the three sharp knocks on her bedroom door still made Sumire jump.

"Sis?" Kasumi's voice carried into the room.

If it were any other day, Kasumi would have already let herself inside without waiting. Sumire had never been comfortable with this, but she had held her tongue on the matter every time.

Today was different. It was a rare sight - seeing Kasumi hesitate on anything - but the bolder of the siblings never really stopped. She wanted to speak with Sumire now, much to the younger sibling's dismay. Sumire didn't feel ready, but was there any getting around this?

She sighed. There wasn't.

She sat up. "You can come in."

Kasumi eased the door open and slipped inside with a forced half-smile on her face. She was well-intentioned, but a lousy liar. The twins made eye contact for a second, and when neither said anything, Kasumi quickly turned to shut the door behind her.

Moments passed, and neither of them had said a word.

Eventually, Kasumi said: "You haven't done your hair today." It was a feeble attempt at an icebreaker. The siblings both knew she hadn't come in to remark on her sister's hair.

"Yeah." Sumire offered a small shrug of the shoulders, wary of giving anything more. She still wasn't ready for this conversation.

"Do you want me to do it for you?" A hint of uncertainty had crept in, but nonetheless, Kasumi took a small step towards her sister.

Sumire, who had always struggled to deny Kasumi anything, gave in. "Okay." She did kind of look like she still had bed-head, anyway.

Wordlessly, the siblings took up their usual positions. Sumire slid down onto the floor, and Kasumi took up her sister's place on the bed, running practised fingers through the bundle of red hair. 

Usually in this situation, they would chat about their day (Kasumi doing the bulk of the talking, Sumire chiming in every now and then), but today Kasumi worked in near-silence. She murmured an occasional instruction to Sumire, telling her to lift or turn her head in a different direction two or three times, but that hardly counted. It was only once Kasumi had fashioned the first of Sumire's two twin-tails (which she had insisted made her younger sister adorable) that the brunette finally found her voice.

"You didn't come to practice today. Coach was a bit worried, you know?" It was a statement, not an accusation, but it hearing it from Kasumi’s mouth still hurt.

"She was?" Sumire stalled, feigning surprise. She already knew the answer.

"Well, of course." Irritation began to flex through Kasumi's voice. She had clearly been itching to say this. "Didn't you think she'd be? She's been our teacher since we were kids, after all. You didn't answer any of my calls either."

 _Yeah, that probably wasn't the best move._ Sumire really did feel guilty about ghosting her sister's messages.

"I'm sorry." She slumped slightly, turning her head to the floor. Kasumi paused briefly as her hands came to a halt.

"Hey, chin up. How am I supposed to finish this when you're all the way down there?" Kasumi laughed, but it sounded false. Sumire lifted her head to oblige, but her spirits remained low.

"Things are really tough at the moment, huh?" Kasumi continued as she recommenced her work. "We'll get through it though. I know the others are giving you a hard time, but the only people you need to worry about are me, you and Coach Hiraguchi. Whatever those jerks say, don't listen to them. I'll stick with you, and we'll be back to winning in no time!" By the end of her speech, Kasumi almost sounded like she'd cheered up. Sumire hadn't.

"You're the only one of us that ever wins anything, Kasumi," she responded. Sometimes, Kasumi forgot that she was on a level of her own.

"W-well, you still perform well." Sumire couldn't see her sister's face, but from Kasumi's voice and tugging feeling in her hair, she could tell that she had been thrown off a little. "Third and fourth place finishes are nothing to be ashamed of!"

"I haven't gotten any of those for months." Sumire huffed. Since her slump started, all of her performances had been either mistake-prone or lifeless – sometimes both. She didn't understand why. She practised just as hard as everyone else, but she couldn't break it, no matter what she did. Even thinking about it now made her eyes harden in frustration.

"You'll get better! I had problems with my growth spurt too, remember?" Sumire did remember - but Kasumi's had been barely more than a speed bump on the road to glory. Overcoming her own seemed more akin to climbing a frigid, towering mountain. "You just need to keep practising, then you'll be able to show your stuff, I'm sure of it!"

"Where can I show it? I've been disqualified from all of the upcoming meets, remember?" The retort had tumbled from her mouth before Sumire could stop herself. She hadn't meant to sound so frustrated.

"There'll be others..." Kasumi assured her, with strained bravado. "I know it’s hard, but you can't give up now. You have to keep going. You have real talent Sumire, as soon as you manage to beat your slump, you'll shoot off into the stars. You'll get so good that they'll have to take you back!"

Sumire squealed in pain.

Kasumi had become so enwrapped in the conversation, that instead of styling her sister's hair, she had tugged harshly on a wad of it. Sumire pulled away, gently soothing the affected area with her palm, while a mortified Kasumi clasped a hand over her own mouth.

"Oh gosh, Sumire, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I-"

"Kasumi..." The younger sibling groaned, interrupting her. "It's fine, really. But, listen," Sumire inhaled a deep breath. She didn't turn to face Kasumi. She knew that she wouldn't be able to handle the look on her sister's face.

"I appreciate that you're trying to make me feel better, but none of that is going to work." She fought with all her might to keep her voice even. "You've seen how the rest of Coach's students have been acting, right? Letting someone like, well, me, into competitions would cause a huge scandal. I know that you and Coach Hiraguchi would welcome me back, but you're different. You might be the only ones."

"Sumire..." Kasumi was uncharacteristically quiet. "What are you saying?"

Sumire's lip quivered, but it was too late to back down now. "I don't think I should continue gymnastics. If I keep going, the only thing I'll end up doing is hurting you and Coach Hiraguchi." She let the words hang in the air for a few seconds.

It was the right thing to do, Sumire thought. There was no chance that things would improve from here. Continuing to struggle would only hurt Sumire and the people she cared about.

"I don't care." The voice didn't sound like Kasumi's.

"What?" Sumire craned her neck to look at her sister. Kasumi’s face was pale, and her fingers clung into the side of Sumire's bed for the support, but something blazed in her brown eyes. Even if Sumire's own were as red as rubies, Kasumi had always been the one with fire in her eyes.

"I said that I don't care," Kasumi spoke bluntly. “I don't want you to stop. You can't seriously be thinking about this, can you? This is really what you want?" The older sibling watched her in bewilderment as if she was seeing a strange alien for the first time instead of Sumire.

"I. No, of course, I don't _want_ this, but I have to-"

"Who says that you have to?" Kasumi interjected, jumping to her feet. "If the others keep hurting you, I'll deal with it. That's what an older sister does. They can't make you quit, and Coach Hiraguchi doesn't want you to stop either. She believes in you. _I_ believe in you."

 _That makes one of us._ Sumire thought, bitterly.

"Kasumi, I can't do it. I just-I can't." She stared at her sister's feet, unable to meet her eyes.

"Why not?" Kasumi shot back. "Sumire, look at me. Please." she pleaded.

Something was stuck in Sumire's throat, but she forced it down with a shudder and willed herself to turn around. As she had expected, her Kasumi's eyes were damp. She was dabbing at them with her sleeve, trying to pass it off as scratching her nose. Kasumi wouldn't have wanted Sumire to point it out, so she didn't.

"You still remember our dream, don't you?" Kasumi asked, with a gaze so intense that Sumire felt like it would melt her into a puddle on the floor. "We were going to win every competition we could, and go international. We'd show the world what the Yoshizawa sisters were capable of. We _promised_ each other, Sumire."

With that, the dam burst, and the strong, reliable older sister broke out into a fit of tears. It was rare to see Kasumi in such a state or to see her openly show any kind of fear at all.

"Kasumi..." Sumire didn't have the words to respond. The sight invoked many feelings in Sumire: guilt; hurt; sadness; even relief. Somehow, seeing her eternal rival break down like this was, in some small way, satisfying to the younger sibling. It took the edge off of her feelings of inferiority, and Sumire hated herself for it.

_I'm horrible._

Perhaps Sumire’s face reflected her thoughts because Kasumi's expression hardened.

"Did all of it mean nothing to you?" The waterworks rushed down the redhead’s cheeks, but even after being shot through the heart, Kasumi Yoshizawa pushed through. She fired back, hurting Sumire just as much.

Of course, she had cared about their dream. When they first made the promise, it was all Sumire thought about. Even then, when they were small, Kasumi had been the leader, the go-getter, the one with talent. Sumire hadn't minded that, though. She had been happy to follow Kasumi, and the gap between their abilities had been a matter of inches, rather than miles.

Sumire was still fond of the memories, but they hurt to recall as well. When you were a child, the world seemed so much simpler. Her whole world _had_ been so much more straightforward, she remembered, until only a few weeks earlier. It was a different life - one that Sumire now had to let go of.

"I'm so sorry, Kasumi." She hung her head low. "I can't do it." It was all she could say. She couldn't tell Kasumi how much she cared, because she wasn't worthy of pity. The entire situation was Sumire’s own fault. Kasumi shouldn't feel sorry for her, or guilty for leaving her sister behind.

_I'm not worth that._

"I can't believe you." Kasumi's entire body trembled in anger and sorrow. "This whole time, I really thought you cared." Without another word, the elder sister stormed out of the room, leaving a trail of tears behind her. She was out of the door and slammed it shut before Sumire could say a word.

Kasumi was gone.

Sumire sucked in air, then exhaled. It didn’t stop her heart from pounding.

Still reeling from the conflict, Sumire collapsed backwards onto her bed and curled up into herself. She didn't cry. Kasumi was allowed to cry, to sob all she wanted, because her worthless sister had taken their dream and smashed it to pieces. Instead, a quiet laugh escaped Sumire. 

This was the first time when she could remember having ever won an 'argument' against her sister. It was almost humorous.

Almost. It was only a pyrrhic victory, after all. It was difficult to feel triumphant after you'd irreparably damaged your relationship with your twin sister, but it was a sacrifice Sumire needed to make. She still loved Kasumi, and she only wanted what was best for her. Even if Kasumi had never told her that, the younger sibling knew it was true. After shedding that excess weight, Kasumi would be able to climb faster, reach new heights and shine even brighter.

Sumire sniffled. If it made Kasumi happy, she could live with the feeling that her heart had been cleaved into pieces.

As for the other consequences of their fallout, she would deal with them another day. Her entire body drooped from fatigue. Somehow, a day of doing nothing but sulking in her room was just as tiring as Coach Hiraguchi's most brutal athletic drills. It was also a hundred times less rewarding. Still, she decided that she needed sleep.

She scooped up her phone, intent to check the time when she remembered about the flood of notifications she had ignored.

 **KASUMI** : Hey, I just got out of school. I'm on the way to practice now! Let me know when you're on the way.

 **KASUMI** : Almost there, sorry, I might be a little late. See you soon!

 **KASUMI** : Hey, where are you? I don't see you anywhere. Are you sick?

 **KASUMI** : I just finished. Hope you're okay, I'll talk to you at home.

Along with the messages, there were five or six missed calls, all from her sister. Each one struck like a sucker punch to the gut. Kasumi had been so concerned about her, and Sumire couldn't even manage one response to tell her where she was? She really was awful.

 **SUMIRE** : I really am sorry, Kasumi.

She sent the text and waited. Seconds ticked into minutes, but by the time her phone had fallen back into sleep mode, there was no response.

Sumire put the phone down. That was fine, she hadn't expected it, especially when she'd treated Kasumi the exact same way earlier in the day.

She had been ready to call it quits for the day, where something on the screen flashed up. Sumire scrambled to reclaim her phone, but her face fell when she realised that it wasn't a text from Kasumi. It wasn't even a message in general.

Instead, Sumire found a patterned red and black eye staring unblinkingly at her from the centre of her mobile screen. As she watched with confusion, it swelled in size, threatening to edge into corners of her screen. 

_Is this some kind of app? I don't remember installing it._

That, she thought, should've been some kind of red flag. Her understanding of the world of computers and the internet was nothing special, but it could easily be some kind of virus. It certainly _looked_ unsettling, like some kind of logo lifted straight from a sci-fi horror movie. Today, however, she couldn't find it in herself to care. She was already too drained.

With small, tentative movements, she placed a single finger on the icon. After seeing that there was no response, she threw caution to the wind and flung it straight into the trash. As far as she could see, the app had been deleted without a hitch. It was a little anti-climactic, honestly - not that she minded. As far as Sumire was concerned, that had been enough stress for one day.

Ten minutes later, after listening intently at the door to avoid her parents, grandfather and Kasumi, Sumire had snuck across the hall to complete her night-time routine and fell back into bed in her pyjamas. Her hair was loose again, having discarded Kasumi’s attempt to help her. Sumire had a way of trampling over things her sister had put work into.

She turned over in bed. It was still early in the evening, but she was already exhausted, and the next day was a big one. It was Sunday, the day where she would see her next school for the first time - Shujin Academy.

Despite what she had assured her parents, her expectations were low. What kind of good school would willingly accept a delinquent? Sumire was a little afraid, too. It wasn't that she was enjoying wasting away in her room, but at least it was familiar. It wasn't unsettling - at least, it wasn't until she realised that everything about it had been decided on by the sister that now almost assuredly hated her.

The relative comfort of her own room had lessened after that.

Anxiety wracked Sumire's mind that night, and despite the early turn-in, she stayed awake until the early hours of the morning. Even in her uneasy sleep, echoes of her argument with Kasumi and trepidation towards what the next day would bring never left her mind.


End file.
